IFA 2018: What To Expect

IFA 2018 #IFA18 will be upon us in a couple of weeks. The event will be kicking off from the 31st of August to the 5th of September in Berlin, Germany and it should be host to a ton of new product announcements from companies, ranging from mobile devices to smart home appliances, and more.

We would like to thank our IFA 2018 main sponsor, Lenovo. They will surely have interesting products to show in Berlin! Stay tuned and follow them on Twitter @Lenovo.

Lenovo recently launched a thin and uber-light mobile workstation, the ThinkPad P1 and the uber-cool Lenovo Smart Display, but you can bet that more is coming.

So if IFA is your jam, do check back with us then to learn more about what’s been announced, but in the meantime to help whet your appetite, here is a list of what you might be able to expect from the event.

Lenovo

Recently Lenovo announced their new ThinkPad laptops but this doesn’t mean that the company won’t have more products to share at IFA 2018. A recent leak from WinFuture.de has revealed that the company could have a new Yoga 930 laptop in the works. Given that last year’s IFA brought us the Lenovo Yoga 920, we wouldn’t be surprised if Lenovo announced a successor/refresh at this year’s IFA as well.

ASUS

Much like Acer, ASUS is primarily known for their computing devices. The company has been confirmed for IFA 2018 and will have some news during the show. As you can see in the teaser image above, the company’s focus for IFA will be about “creative power”, which presumably will focus on devices that will help aid creativity, like maybe more powerful laptops that will support video and photo editing on the go. They could also use their presence to show off and demo the ASUS ROG Phone, a smartphone that was designed for gamers in mind.

Bang & Olufsen

The Danish audio company (for the most part) typically reserves its product announcements for CES 2018. However Ubergizmo has been invited by Bang & Olufsen to attend a press conference that they will be hosting on the 29th of August. The company recently announced that they would be phasing out the B&O Play branding in favor of putting it all its main “Bang & Olufsen” brand, so maybe the press conference could detail that further.

We could also potentially expect to see more product announcements, like maybe a new BeoVision TV, new speakers, or maybe new products under the Beoplay category such as Bluetooth speakers or headphones.

Casio

While Casio is a brand that many are familiar with when it comes to more traditional digital/analog watches, the company has in recent years dabbled in smartwatches based on Google’s Wear OS platform. The company also makes cameras and with a press conference scheduled for the 29th of August, it is possible that we could be hearing about announcements for similar products.

Fitbit

There are rumors that a new Fitbit wearable could be in the works called the Fitbit Charge 3. Renders of the upcoming fitness tracker have leaked and one of the main changes Fitbit made is that it could be packing a full touchscreen display. It is also rumored to gain some smartwatch-like features that were previously exclusive to the Fitbit Ionic and Versa, where users can send messages and accept incoming calls.

Huawei

There have been rumors floating about that Huawei could have a couple of new handsets planned in the form of the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro. IFA 2018 seems like a good place to debut the handsets. It has also been confirmed that Huawei will be officially launching its Kirin 980 SoC at the event which is said to be 20-40% more efficient than its predecessor, and we wouldn’t be surprised if the chipset found its way into the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro as well.

LG

LG is also making an appearance at IFA 2018 and with the LG G7 having already been launched, this makes way for the company’s second flagship phone for the year, which according to the rumors could be the LG V40, successor to last year’s LG V30. The phone is rumored to pack as many as five cameras which if true should make for an interesting presentation to see why so many cameras are necessary.

We have also heard rumors that a new LG smartwatch could be in the works dubbed the “LG Watch Timepiece“. It made its way through the FCC back in May which suggests that it could be ready for launch and IFA 2018 does seem like a good platform to debut it.

Microsoft & Amazon

According to the IFA website, Microsoft is also expected to be present at the event. Based on the description of Microsoft’s keynote, it appears that the company might mainly focus on AI and also connected objects and the Internet of Things. Amazon is also expected to have their own keynote where it appears that the company will talk about Alexa and its role in today’s society.

Interestingly enough both companies have recently rolled out integration of both their digital assistants, in which users can call upon Cortana to activate Alexa skills, and vice versa. Perhaps more details about the collaboration and plans for the future could be discussed at the event as well.

Philips

Philips is a brand that covers all kinds of home appliances, and in recent times thanks to the ever-growing connectivity in our technology, the company has also updated its portfolio with era-appropriate devices. At this year’s IFA, we expect that the company will have some products aimed at health and sleep. This was revealed during the IFA Global Press conference in Rome in which Ubergizmo attended.

Also since Philips sells televisions, we wouldn’t be surprised if the company were to announce some new TVs at IFA 2018.

Razer

At CES 2018 earlier this year, Razer took the wraps off a new concept that they were working on called Project Linda. Basically it was a laptop dock that would use a smartphone, like the Razer Phone, to power it and give productivity a boost thanks to the physical keyboard and larger display. Perhaps an updated concept could be unveiled at IFA 2018, or maybe it could be made a reality and officially launched as a consumer product.

Speaking of the Razer Phone, it is expected that the company will launch the Razer Phone 2. It has been previously rumored that it will take place by the end of the year, while some are even suggested by September 2018, which means that an announcement at IFA 2018 wouldn’t be completely out of the question.

Samsung

Having recently announced and launched the Samsung Galaxy Note 9, we doubt that Samsung’s IFA appearance will be rehashing on that, but the handset should be making an appearance. There have also been rumblings that a Samsung gaming phone is in the works so an IFA 2018 appearance could be possible.

Sony

Sony has confirmed that they will be present at IFA 2018 and will be hosting a press conference. Exactly what will be announced remains to be seen, but it is largely expected that Sony will announce the Xperia XZ3. That would make it the company’s second flagship phone for 2018 following the launch of the Xperia XZ2 earlier this year.

Since Sony also makes TVs, we wouldn’t be surprised if there were new TVs announced, and possibly other audio products like headphones, speakers, or maybe even a new Walkman aimed at audiophiles.

Toshiba

For those looking for new televisions or are interested in seeing what the future holds for display technology, Toshiba will be at IFA 2018 with rumors claiming that the company could unveil new TV technology. The company did have quite a few products that they announced at last year’s IFA, such as a 4K borderless TV, so we wouldn’t be surprised if they were to show off new display technology at this year’s event.

ZTE

Huawei’s chief competitor ZTE is also expected to make an appearance at IFA 2018, as confirmed by a tweet. Based on the tweet and the accompanying image where ZTE says that they will be, “Leading 5G innovations”, we expect that the company will share plans on how they plan to support 5G.

A recently leaked image has also revealed the number “9” which has led some to speculate that the company could also be announcing the ZTE Axon 9 smartphone. No one knows what the Axon 9 and Axon 9 Pro will be bringing to the table, but we expect that it will be a flagship quality handset, and given the 5G mentioned in ZTE’s earlier tweet, maybe even 5G compatibility.

About IFA

The IFA event has been running for almost a hundred years now and is considered to be the largest consumer electronics show in Europe. It will feature 159,000 square meters of floor space which will play home to 1,805 exhibitors. IFA in 2016 also managed to host a staggering 240,000 attendees, a number which we expect will most likely be bigger this year.

Ubergizmo has also been officially invited to attend the main event and we will of course be covering the event in its entirety. We will also be attending #ShowStoppersIFA event on Aug 30th, where a lot of new products will be announced (see the ShowStoppers event brochure), like last year where we got to check out a live demo of the Garmin VivoActive 3 (see video below).

#IFA2018 will be taking place from the 31st of August to the 5th of September, 2018.